McCaffery rips Holy Cross for hard fouls

WORCESTER, Mass. — Siena coach Fran McCaffery said he blew off Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard after an 83-71 victory Tuesday because he was upset about hard fouls that left several of his players cut and bruised.

At the final buzzer, McCaffery pointed for his players to get to the Siena locker room and then marched in that direction, leaving Willard shaking his head near halfcourt.

“I was upset at how our guys were being fouled,” McCaffery said. “I got guys bloody. I got guys with black eyes. I got guys that need stitches. That’s not how the game is supposed to be played.”

There were a total of 46 fouls called and 55 free throws attempted during what at times looked like a hockey game. Ronald Moore required stitches for a cut on his chin, and Josh Duell wore a shiner just under his eye.

“I don’t have a problem with rough play,” McCaffery said. “I’m a proponent of rough plays. But we have a guy getting ready to make a play on the ball and you hit him in the head, that’s not rough play.”

Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard said he plans to speak to McCaffery on Wednesday. He declined to address the postgame snub, but did say, “We had a couple plays where guys got crushed.”

McCaffery, demonstrative in his displeasure through the final minutes of the game, said he asked the officials how they wanted him to handle the situation.

“What do you want me to do now? What a I supposed to do?” McCaffery said. “You don’t want me to send in a goon and then there’s a melee. But I’d like to know what recourse we had.”

McCaffery quickly added that he wasn’t upset at the officials, who called a tight game throughout. Siena forward Ryan Rossiter said, “If you got fouled tonight, you were definitely shooting free throws.”

Said McCaffery, “To the officials’ credit, they were calling fouls. It’s not like they weren’t calling fouls. They were. I’m not complaining about them at all.”

I was at the game and while it was rough, it was by no means the most physical game I’ve ever seen. The Coach overreacted and proved that he was and is classless…and I’m a student at Siena from western mass.

Faia is experienced and his fouls per game is under 40 but 2 ejections in his career for 19,433 fouls called in the games he’s officiated doesn’t exactly suggest he’s willing to do anything more than call the foul.

Ruppenthal looks like an emergency fill-in who has been in a lot of games with a lot of fouls and technicals yet has never been part of a crew to toss a guy from the game.

Tyburski has a lot of fouls per game going this year yet his technicals per foul are way down.

Looks like the perfect storm of officials willing to call the foul but let the game get out of control by allowing the hard fouls to go.

Fran McCaffery has a LOT of class. He might be a fiesty guy but that’s why players love playing for him. A coach always has his player’s back even if it is questionable. Good for Fran. Hopefully this will make the team even closer and have them play with a passion!

Kudos to the Saints on a good win tonight–you have a great looking team, and good luck in the rest of your season.

With all due respect, though, Coach McCaffery looked like a very poor sport tonight and a bit of a sore winner. I’ve seen many college basketball games more physical (and more genuinely nasty–this one was not) than this one, but this is the first where a coach has led his players off the floor with their backs to their opponents. Absolutely tragic way to end a hard-fought battle between two respectable, mid-major, Catholic programs who owe it to each other and their emerging rivalry to play hard. I wouldn’t expect your players to stop trying to dunk the ball down our throats, and I hope you wouldn’t expect your opposition to do its best to stop them from doing that. It’s called competition. But to disrespect another coach and team? Embarrassing end to an otherwise good victory.

This is ridiculous. I am very close to the HC team- See them play all the time. Missed tonight’s game but let me tell you this group of guys is not one who is known “to push other teams around” HA! If you don’t believe me watch the film, look at our record, look at the size of our guys…we are no bully.

This franny character is completely out of line on this one. But I think it’s hilarious, really.

I just watched the replay on CSTV and the refs definately let the game get away from them…. They called te game too tight and didn’t let them play… then they let some really hard fouls slide!!!

I think Fran played his cards wrong by not shaking hands… but, I can see why he was mad.

The announcers from Worcester were really funny!!! They acted like it was the most classless thing they had ever seen. “I don’t know what he’s crying about…” This was just after they had given an injury report on Siena “Duell with Ice pack on his eye…and Moore with a big cut that needs a stitch..” They even talked about one foul saying ” they need this guy to play on the Hockey Team, Hasbrouk ran into a wall right there…” All with a BIG BOSTON ACCENT

Welcome to Divison 1 basketball. I am a big supporter of Siena and was at the game tonight, but was not proud at the end of the game when Fran ordered for his team off the court. Not only was that classless, but, I am not sure if others noticed this, he urged Ronald Moore to try to score when he was running up the clock. I love this team, and program, but was not very proud of it at the end of the game. Sure, HC fouled us hard, but this is just tough basketball.

why is all the media other then times union just ignoring this subject all together? on both teams websites it has no mention of this, and on the highlight by channel 9 it just ignores the fouls and fran walking off.

and i dont want to hear it from all these holy cross fans that say that fran was disrepecting them, why dont you learn to have some class. if your mad that siena is scoring off you, then maybe you should try scoring, instead of attacking players until they have black eyes and need stiches

and on another note, siena wore the gold uni’s today, maybe there making a comeback, unless there too blood stained to be worn again

Keister, #34 for Holy Cross, intentionally hit Rossiter with a shoulder toward the end of the first half. The Holy Cross local TV guys both agreed it was intentional.

Cunningham, after having his pass stolen by Hasbrouck, made a bee-line for Hasbrouck and hit him with a forearm that Hasbrouck never saw coming. It was an intentional foul. Really no other way to describe it. Sure, Cunningham patted Hasbrouck on the rear end after the fact, but it was still intentional.

I think the one that put Fran over the top was May’s foul on Franklin with about 2:40 seconds to go. Franklin beat May to the hoop and May took a vicious swing at the back of Franklin’s head – you can argue he was going after the ball, I suppose – but that was not only an intentional foul, it was a flagrant foul.

Ralph Willard had nothing to do with any of it. It was a function of frustration by the Holy Cross kids who were pretty much getting overwhelmed all night (May is a small forward forced to play the 4 tonight due to injuries and he was getting worked by Franklin all night; Rossiter was killing Keister on the offensive glass and burning him for buckets and Cunningham was pissed he threw the ball away and took his frustration out on a defenseless Hasbrouck.

Zach – That’s because the news stations can’t dedicate the time to what this rightfully needs. I think everyone needs to remember that by sending the team off the floor he’s also difusing a situation where something could happen after the game. I was at the girls game tonight (who could have used a few of these hard fouls) and listened to the last few minutes of the mens game on the radio, I caught the General and Heurter describe the foul on Hasbrouck as “a forearm shiver” sorry but I thought that was only in the WWE. I’d be curious to know if the replay Mike A saw showed hard fouls both directions or just one?

where on CSTV can you watch these fouls? I only heard the last 8 minutes of the game and missed parts.

I dunno if I can agree with what happened at the end of the game, but what the general said is true (on AM 590). whether it was right or wrong to walk off the court, Fran needs to have the back of Kenny and the team. Congratulating Holy Cross on a game where players are receiving black eyes, stitches for cuts, and being intentionally fouled is questionable. (On a side note, I would like to see how Holy Cross fared and who drew first blood.)

I’d like to take this sentence to say good game Kenny, glad to see you back to your old self once again.

Stitches, black eyes, intentional hits to the head? Good for Fran. That’s not how a Catholic school plays ball…

Siena’s got one of the toughest schedules in all the mid-majors, and are headed back into conference play this week. They need their health, and not to have it jeopardized in this, frankly, less meaningful game.

This could have been a fun rivalry, but not if they’re gonna try to physically injure our guys. Pull the plug on any future games with ’em, Fran.

A great coach, like any great leader, is emotionally involved as a leader and protector of his team. Whether or not the fouls were intentional and over the line, we can all argue. Let’s for one minute put ourselves in Fran’s shoes…

You are nearing the end of a physical game where your team is up by 10 and is looking at a key in-conference New Year’s day game only 2 days away. HC has not made 1 or 2 “hard” fouls, but several fouls that have left Siena players bruised or bleeding. As a coach, you are p/o because the control you have in that situation is limited. AT THE TIME, when you feel you are being treated with unsportsmanlke conduct by a team, you react in similar fashion.

If the HC coach is astonished that a team would not shake hands, then administer a practice that will instruct hard play as opposed to dirty play.

Do black eyes and stitches happen only on dirty plays? No, of course not. They can, but don’t they usually happen when two teams are working their butts off on the court? Uhhh, yes. Listen, I am as big of a Siena fan as the next guy, but the only malicious thing I saw on the floor tonight was when Cunningham virtually tackled Kenny. Now, that was dirty. But, for Fran to go crazy and decide to not shake Holy Cross’ hands is inexcusable. I think Fran is a helluva coach and has done wonders for this program, but this was a huge blemish for him.

Good post #12. Listening to the game, Huerter thought they should have been called intentional fouls also, but didn’t think any of it was directed by Willard. Player frustration? Yes. The fouls you highlighted were clearly dirty. Those HC players should have been ejected.
The Siena players know that Fran is behind them 100%.

I didn’t see the game, so my comments are very limited. However, doesn’t it seem like there is some sort of incident at least once a year? I remember Fran’s wife somehow got into it last year.

If things really were that bad, he should’ve taken a time out to talk with the refs and possibly Willard. Walking off the court without shaking hands is supposed to be reserved for the most heinous of offenses. This is the best way to burn bridges not only for yourself, but also your program.

I got the CSTV feed of off the Siena Basketball website.(It linked me to Holy Cross’s site) They didn’t run it “live”, although that’s why I bought it… I went back and watched it after the game because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about…

The refs called a pretty ticky-tack game with a lot of fouls going each way.. I’m not sure the 2 or 3 hard fouls had anything to do with how the game was called, but overall I think they called too many on each team.

As far as the “Forearm Shiver” was concerned… yeah it was a little over the top… and there were a couple of other fouls underneath the basket that were a little flagrant.

I agree w/ Pat Meares- HC was getting frustrated and began to play reckless… I don’t thunk they intended to hurt anyone… but a warning to the HC bench or a flagrant foul call would have settled Fran down and maybe restored a little order….

I have a low tolerance level for whiny coaches, and this McCaffery was as bad as they get (he got very close to a “T”). This was a very physical game, on both sides, and Sienna played a hard nosed full court press the whole game (I’ve never seen that, especially from a team that’s winning). I must congratulate the Sienna players on being in great condition to carry out that press for so long. However, if you have the opposing team in your face the whole game you will push back, and that’s what Holy Cross did. I’ve been to a few HC games this year, and I wouldn’t call them a physical team. I would recommend to Mr. McCaffery to have his team play a less physical game, not press so much, and he won’t have to worry so much about “cheap shots”. He might also want to leave his wife at home, what an embarassment! I read that this wasn’t her first incident, that she got thrown out of a game at Hofstra, they make quite a “team”. Good luck to Sienna, you have a good team and should go places, but you can do better than Fran.

I was at the game tonight. And, as an HC grad who grew up within a mile of Siena and attended many many games while growing up…I would like to think I could take am unbiased view here.
Yes, it was a physical game. But at no point did it get out of control in my opinion. And by no means was it one´sided. 24 fouls by HC and 22 by Siena. If the situation was as bad as Fran says, I am sure that 3 division 1 refs would have called a Technical or Intentional foul at some point.
Fran saw a few bruises and then started to whine & completely over-react….much like he did during the game when Rossiter got beat on a full court pass. Fran ran 10 feet onto the court waving his hands wildly and yelling at his player. It looked like one of the refs was going to give hime a Technical for being out of the coach´s box but the other ref talked him out of it. Willard could have made a bigger deal of it with the refs but he let it go. Fran looked like a fool when it happened…and managed to make himself look like an even bigger fool at the end of the game.
With 2 Catholic schools from the same region with strong hoops programs…I looked forward to this game each year and had hoped it would continue. But unfirtunately, it looks like this move will bring it to an end at least temporarily.

Classless & selfish move by Fran…a poor example to set for his players and a blemish on the Siena hoops program.

First off – I am a huge Saints fan and did not see tonites game, but I do think this lack of sportsmanship is a black eye for Fran and Siena. It seems like the refs called a fairly tight game as referenced by the number of FT’s we shot. This is something that should have been addresses one on one to Coach Willard by Fran, not to drag the players into. We all know Fran always has his players back but what lesson did they learn from that?

I have known Ralph Willard and his entire family since his days as a HS coach at St Dom’s on LI and he has always been a stand up guy who coaches with class. He has always been well liked by his teams. I find it impossible to believe he promoted any “goon like” behavior on the court. Thats not him.

On the more positive notes:
– another big road win
– the return of Hasbrouck
– strong FT performance and rebounding (Rossiter)
– good bench production

I was at the game. Siena started pressing right away. They were rough. HC just gave them what they were getting. I can understand a coach trying to “defuse” a situation as I have been a player and had the same kind of thing happen to us. What I can’t understand is that Fran did not make the effort to shake hands once again with Ralph, even if his players did not. Fran, that’s just bad sportmanship…and what was with your wife yelling? She has a history of embarrassing moments and this just added to it.
Both teams should just let this go and maybe not play each other next year.

I am a huge college basketball and Siena fan. Having attended most
Siena home games and some away games(yes I was at this game) for the
last fifteen years, I can honestly say this game was the most physical
game I have ever witnessed in person. It was clear from the start of the game that Siena was much more athletic than Holy Cross. Their only
chance to compete with Siena was to turn the game into a ugly,physical
battle. The game was poorly officiated with over 50 foul calls but with no consistency to those calls and never taking charge when needed. There were many hard fouls with a few that could have been
called flagrant. Doing this may have been the way for the officials
to keep control of the game. It seemed to really get out of hand at the end of the game when every Siena possession ended up with a Siena
player on the floor. Keister(#34) has no game and appears to just be
out there to manhandle the opponents big guy. A coaches job is to protect his players and Fran always has his players backs. Having said
that, I do believe closure is needed at the end of a battle like this
and was disappointed that Fran chose not to shake Holy Cross’ hands.
I would like to congratulate the Siena players on this great, hard
fought victory. You didn’t back down from the battle and walked away
with the W. The better team won this game.

Last year Bing vs Albany in Bing….Will Brown made some idiotic comments, Broadus got upset, some very hard fouls, big rivalry game anyways….very tough game….the coaches went and shook hands…well tried to….but at least they had the CAJONES to say something to each others face….

This move by Fran is not just classless, but if there really was an issue of “hard fouls”….go say your mind to the other coach, your players didnt even care, they play ball, they know they might get hurt, so no fights wouldve broken out…

This was a Belichek moment, and Fran will lose A LOT of respect from coaches who he will try and schedule games against next year.

Saints_Alum00 comment made an excellent point. I’m a ’75 grad an remember a game with Fordham (another Catholic school) played at the old ARC that turned into an all out brawl at the end of the game as both teams left the court. It was ugly. We didn’t play Fordham again for 20 years. There were hard fouls then too, but Fordham was looking at possible post season play. I think Fran may have over reacted, but what if something worse happened like the Fordham game and players were ejected for upcoming games etc. Fran stuck up for his players in the onky way he could.